The following excerpt is from the book Cruel City: The Dark Side of Hollywood's Rich & Famous, by Marianne Ruuth, copyright 1991. It tells the story of the murder of Sal Mineo:

� � �"On the evening of February 13, 1976, Sal Mineo parked in the carport of the apartment building on Holloway Drive in West Hollywood where he lived. �He was returning home from rehearsals of a play, P.S. Your Cat Is Dead, in which he was to play a bisexual burglar.

� � �"As he walked toward his apartment, he was attacked and stabbed through the heart with a knife. �When he cried out, the man scurried away and a neighbor came running. �Attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation proved of no avail and the young actor was dead at the age of thirty-seven.

� � �"Sal Mineo was born in the Bronx section of New York on January 10, 1939. �Beginning on Broadway, he graduated to playing the young prince in The King and I before moving to Hollywood and a string of troubled youth roles. �He was twice nominated for an Academy Award, in 1955 for Rebel Without a Cause and in 1960 for Exodus.

� � �"In 1969, he would return to New York to direct Fortune and Men's Eyes.

� � �"With Mineo's death, the Hollywood rumor mill had a feast. �Insinuations, guesses, and speculations filled the press and television. �A local Los Angeles television newscast based its reports almost entirely on unsupported gossip. �Most of the rumors that centered on Hollywood's favorite subject, his sexuality, were pure fabrication. �One friend stated flatly, 'Sal was not kinky. �He was not into leather and/or S&M...He was a sweet and very loving man. �And he took himself and his profession very seriously.'

� � �"Mineo's family and friends were aghast at the seamy stories that circulated. �At the funeral services held in New York five days after the murder, Chips Meyers eulogized his brother-in-law, 'He lived his life with courage, abandon, humor, style and grace. � His art-what he created-will always stand. �Nothing can take it away from him.'

� � �"Detectives from the West Hollywood's Sheriff's Office had a strong lead on Mineo's murder from the beginning of the investigation. �There had been a series of ten strongarm robberies in Sal's neighborhood within a month's period-all involving one man, using either a knife or gun-and the police had identified a suspect and questioned his relatives.

� � �"Police were searching for Lionel R. Williams, a twenty-one year old former pizza delivery man. �Williams' girlfriend told the police that he had come to her apartment the night of Mineo's murder with apparent bloodstains on his jacket, ranting a wild story about having stabbed someone. �Later that same night, when she and Williams were watching television, a photograph of Mineo was flashed on the screen and Williams blurted out, 'That's the dude I killed.'

� � �"Police still did not have enough evidence to arrest Williams for Mineo's murder, but they waited.

� � �"Early in 1977. Williams was arrested in Inglewood, California for outstanding traffic tickets, but was extradited to Michigan authorities to face charges of forgery. �Williams went willingly, but Los Angeles detectives advised Michigan authorities that he was a suspect in the Mineo case. �While serving time for forgery in Calhoun County jail in Michigan, Williams talked to a cell mate about committing the Mineo killing. �Three days before he was to be released, he learned the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office had filed charges and was seeking to extradite him to California. �They had connected him to a small, yellow Dodge Dart seen leaving the scene of the crime.

� � �"Williams was extradited to Los Angeles and charged with the murder of Sal Mineo on May 4, 1978. �Despite his boastful prison talk, he pleaded not guilty. �It took the jury a week to reach a verdict, but, in March of 1979, Williams was sentenced to a minimum of fifty years, receiving consecutive sentences of five years to life for the second-degree murder of Mineo, nine counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree robbery."

� 1997 [email protected]

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